Jeffrey Paul McMahon

Essay Films
Actor and Screenwriter

Adelaide, Australia

Member Since:
April 2014

Last online:
> 2 weeks ago

Invites sent:
0

About Jeffrey

Jeff, a former teacher of Media Studies and History, began his writing career scripting pre-school children’s TV, then copywriting for advertising & marketing, and training videos. He found he had a penchant for comedy after taking a course by the late Barry Took, comedy writing partner of the late Marty Feldman.

He has several screenplays on the market, one of which, 'New Deli' (a rom-com set in Brooklyn), was awarded second place in the 2017 New York Metropolitan Screenplay Competition, and semi-finalist in a number of others including the 2017 The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival and 2019/20 Chicago Screenplay Comp.

Other scripts include the Rom-com ‘Once Bitten’, semi-finalist in the 2016 Creative World Awards, the dramedy, 'Positive Aging in Happy Valley', awarded semi-finalist in the 2019-20 Miami Screenplay Comp, and the comedy-western, 'The Legend of Willie Telberg and Son' – a comedic nod to the legendary Swiss hero, William Tell – awarded semi-finalist in the 2020 Chicago Screenplay Awards.

Two dramas, 'Legacies', and 'Good Country', as well as the thriller 'Grave Danger', are set in Australia. (Details of all screenplays are available on < .au >).

As a writer benefiting from several years’ experience performing in live theatre, and in film, television and TVCs, Jeff has developed an appreciation of the intricacies involved in character development in all writing platforms.

He has represented the interests of writers in several capacities; as a member of the former South Australian Film Industry Assessment Committee (SAFIAC, SA Dept of the Arts, subsumed by the SA Film Corp), and as a committee member of the Australian Writers’ Guild (SA), during which time he was responsible for coordinating script entries for various categories of its annual writing awards – eg Monte Miller Award, Radio Comedy Award.

It is probably fair to say that Jeff’s intention is to at least pay the bills while continuing to tell stories in his two preferred media; viz, film and novels, even though he has penchant for watching good comedy and drama on television.

Unique traits: I'm unique, just like everyone else. I am left-handed and can, believe it or not, write cursive in reverse from right to left, just like good ol' Leonardo. I like to think my business is creating. Imagine that!

Gender:
Male

Height:
5' 9"

Weight:
165

Body type:
Average

Hair:
Bald

Hair color:
Grey

Eyes:
Green

Ethnicity:
Caucasian

Certifications

Loglines

Grave Danger Budget: $1M - $5M | Thriller A care-free night-clubber searching for her abducted best friend, must neutralise a pair of sexually deviant ex-cons, before she, too, ends up in the cemetery where the two men work.
Legacies Budget: $1M - $5M | Drama Following the death of one of his refugee students, a Vietnam veteran turned art teacher must confront the circumstances of his own son’s tragic death in order to finally shed the burden of guilt.
New Deli Budget: $10M - $30M | Romance ⋄ Comedy A naïve, recently orphaned Indian architecture student in Brooklyn, fearing deportation if he loses the roof over his head, teams with a classmate to save his uncle’s delicatessen from demolition by an upstart developer.
Once Bitten Budget: $10M - $30M | Comedy ⋄ Drama A widowed socialite, sworn off men after a failed marriage, now smitten by her new working-class neighbour, must compete with her scheming best friend to win his heart – before he departs this mortal coil.
Good Country Budget: $5M - $10M | Thriller ⋄ Drama When the heir to a once thriving wool-growing dynasty discovers that her late father's lawyer is responsible for its demise, she must eliminate him before he destroys her most precious asset.
Phoebe's Exchamge Budget: $5M - $10M | Action ⋄ Comedy When a jilted woman burgles her cheating husband's lover, she loses incriminating evidence to another on the same mission and must find a way to retrieve it before she falls victim to blackail.
Positive Aging in Happy Valley Budget: $5M - $10M | Independent ⋄ Comedy When an elderly widow, newly arrived in a retirement facility, encounters her long forsaken true love, she must confront head-on the complications of his early onset dementia to win back his heart.
The Legend of Willie Telberg Budget: $5M - $10M | Independent ⋄ Comedy In the Fall of 1865, a sharp-shooting twelve-year-old Black American with Down syndrome outwits a gang of bumbling ex-Confederate rebels to track down his father they've kidnapped and save him from a lynching.